Mehrdad Lohrasbi, the forgotten prisoner of the July 1999 student protests

Iran Press News: From the blog of esteemed activist, Kianoosh Sanjari – written on Friday, September 29th:

“On December 11th, 2005 I wrote that Mehrdad Lohrasbi returned to prison after a short medical furlough. Upon his return, after a series of arguments with the callous warden of [Evin] prison, he was transferred to the Rejaiishahr prison of Karadj – suburb of Tehran.

Then on April 11th, 2006 I reported that he is was extremely ill. He required hospital care that the prison infermary was simply incapable of providing and in order for him to be allowed to leave prison and get checked into a hosptial, he was told that he had to surrender a collateral of no less than $23,000 with the revolutionary court.

From the first date, more than 9 months, and from the second date another 5 months have passed and it appears that this young and truly innocent man has been forgotten and shuffled into the oblivion of that prison, with no one to his rescue.

A couple of days ago, he called me and requested that I go to the north of Tehran (1), to distribute some petitions to see if anyone would be willing to post a collateral – on loan - for him to be able to come out of prison for a couple of months, to get medical treatment for his ailing health.

He has such a pure heart that he still believes that way up in that part of the city there are people who would care about the young innocents who remain in prison and who would then come to his aid. I told him however that if there were peole who would in fact help out, their houses would be, without a shadow of a doubt at the foot of Tehran, not the head.

In that side of the city no one’s heart aches for anyone, they have lots and they still want more. I told him that the reason why he remains in prison does not for them, an investment make; If it did, you would not have remained in prison for 7 long years.

According to Mehrdad he is growing old and weary in prison. At this juncture, he has served 7 years and 3 months and the Islamic regime does not even want to lend an ear; they categorically refuse to accept the fact that if anything he truly is innocent and that the story of his imprisonment is one that is a total tragedy…one that is the saga of utter injustice and cruelty, as well as irrefutable proof and show of the rampant incompetence of the regime’s judiciary.

Our Mehrdad’s tragedy begins at the point where am extremely poor young man who sold secondhand books was arrested during the 1999 student uprising. In the midst of the wave of protets, in a corner of Tehran University, in July of that year, in his total rage against the regime, he picks up a rock and hurls it into the crush of the brutal anti-riot guards, hitting one of them. And so he was arrested, and was left in the care of the cold walls of the solitary cells of the secret police. The ministry of intelligence and security built a case against him with full-on fabricated charges; he was presented in the revolutionary court for all of 2 minutes and he was labeled as one of the master planners of the uprisings.

And though Mehrdad was originally sentenced to death, the supreme leadership offered righteous amnesty, commuting the death sentence by 2 degrees down to 15 years in prison.

In 4 months, Mehrdad will have served half of his sentence. He spent the first 5 years of this time in Evin prison, and 2 years and three months in his place of ‘exile’ at Rajaiishahr, where as I mentioned earlier, he was transferred.

After passing 87 months in prison, due to stress, he has gained a massive and dangerous amount of weight and is near obesety; as a result he has shooting-pain in his heart, his legs hurt incessantly, he suffers from insomnia, he takes sedatives and a lot of it so that he can survive that hellish ward 2 which is known as the "Daar ol-Qoran" –a section of prison where psychotic murderers, rapists, thieves are held.

Mehrdad said he does not know what they want from him, why they just don’t let him go, now that they’ve crushed his youth in the mud walls of those penitentiaries…what indeed do they want from him? What pray tell is the price of throwing a couple of rocks at some random guards? How long should he be harassed till he meets his demise?

He said he has started loosing hair by the fistful and his legs are nearly crippled; his body aches all over and is filled with disease and still they won’t let him go. He speaks the truth. The honorable President and his own kindhearted administration should hear these words and take them to heart instead of lamenting for prisoners in places like the U.S. that he so readily criticizes; how about a little bit of concern over the falsely imprisoned in our own country, those who are after all innocent.

Mehrdad said in confirmation of all his ailment and the severity of his condition, the regime’s own medical examiner has actually sent 4 or 5 letters to the director of prisons, stating that he indeed requires hospitalization; the judiciary and the bureau of prisons have however not only fiendishly refused to permit him medical treatment –where he can get real rest and recover a little – they have expressly done every little nefarious thing imaginable to transfer, or rahter exile him to deplorable locations where he would surely suffer and be ultimately crushed.”

(1) North of Tehran is an extremely afluent part of Tehran.